Cryptographer and Bitcoin white paper contributor, Adam Back, believes Bitcoin is unlikely to face a significant quantum threat for the next two to four decades. He argues that existing post-quantum encryption standards approved by NIST offer potential solutions that could be implemented before quantum computers become significantly powerful enough to pose a direct risk to Bitcoin’s security. His stance follows a recent discussion sparked by Chamath Palihapitiya, who predicted a quantum threat to Bitcoin within two to five years. Palihapitiya suggested that breaking Bitcoin’s current SHA-256 encryption standard would require approximately 8,000 qubits. Back stated that quantum computing might expose the anonymity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, forcing him to move his funds to new addresses to avoid losing access. The discussion began when a user posted a video of Chamath Palihapitiya predicting a quantum threat to Bitcoin within a time span of two to five years. 6,100 physical qubits and error-corrected logical qubits are in Caltech’s neutral-atom array’s record holder. While current quantum computers are yet to pose a threat to cryptographic standards, experts debate the exact timeframe for closing the gap. Some believe progress will be linear while others anticipate breakthrough developments as research investment continues. Despite this ongoing debate, Back argues that Bitcoin needs to implement post-quantum encryption solutions to protect against future threats. His views echo those of Gianluca Di Bella, a smart contract researcher specializing in zero-knowledge proofs, who advocates for immediate implementation of these standards, citing the potential timeframe of practical commercial quantum computing being 10 or 15 years away. However, he acknowledges that big institutions like Microsoft or Google might present solutions within a shorter time frame.